Native contractors beneath the All-Indigenous Contractors Affiliation of Nigeria on Wednesday intensified their demonstrations on the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja, blocking each entrances with a coffin as they demanded fee of greater than N500bn allegedly owed to them by the Federal Authorities.
The dramatic blockade introduced motion across the ministry to a halt, creating gridlock and stopping workers and guests from gaining entry. It marked the most recent escalation by the contractors, who insist they’ve accomplished and commissioned initiatives for which they haven’t been paid.
Led by the affiliation’s Nationwide Secretary, Babatunde Seun-Oyeniyi, the protesters accused the Ministry of Finance of shifting its place repeatedly, making unfulfilled guarantees, and failing to indicate real dedication to resolving the debt regardless of a number of conferences.
Chatting with journalists on the ministry’s gate, Oyeniyi stated the group had grown pissed off after what they described as a number of assurances that by no means materialised.
He recalled that earlier within the yr, the contractors suspended their protests following the intervention of the Nationwide Meeting, however the ministry allegedly didn’t observe by means of.
“After the Nationwide Meeting intervened, they instructed us they might sit the minister down over this matter, and we instantly stopped the protest,” he stated.
“However since then, nothing has occurred. We’ve come right here greater than six occasions. Final week, we had been right here all through the evening earlier than the Minister of Finance got here.”
Oyeniyi additionally insisted that the federal government had funds obtainable, claiming the contractors had been instructed throughout a latest assembly that cash had been put aside for them.
“From our final dialog with the minister, he instructed us there was about N150bn able to pay indigenous contractors. We don’t know why it’s nonetheless being delayed,” he stated.
In keeping with him, whereas the contractors had seen fee warrants, the funds had not been cash-backed. “Particularly, once we collated, they’re owing greater than N500bn for all indigenous contractors. We solely see warrants; there is no such thing as a money,” he added.
The affiliation additional accused authorities officers of making an attempt to push the funds into the 2026 fiscal yr—a transfer they warned would worsen their {financial} misery.
“The issue is that they wish to push us right into a backlog. They wish to shift us to 2026. They are going to flip us into debt, and we don’t need that. We received’t go away right here till we’re paid,” Oyeniyi declared.
The contractors additionally alleged that the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, had redirected them to the Nationwide Meeting, regardless of the legislature’s earlier intervention, a growth they stated had created recent confusion and distrust.
In the meantime, civil servants and guests had been stranded because the demonstrators blocked the 2 foremost gates of the ministry, chanting: “Na our cash we’d like o, Wale Edun pay us, Tinubu pay us.”
Many protesters carried placards lamenting that banks had stopped funding initiatives due to the federal government’s alleged failure to pay contractors. Some claimed a number of colleagues had died by suicide attributable to extended hardship, whereas others stated inflation had eroded the worth of the cash they had been owed.
They accused the federal government of injuring small corporations by withholding funds for accomplished initiatives and contended that almost a yr of delayed payouts amounted to against the law towards humanity.
They insisted that contractors ought to obtain well timed fee somewhat than repeated ensures, claiming that extended delays amounted to fraud somewhat than easy unfairness.
The confrontation provides to mounting tensions. In November, the Home of Representatives suspended plenary for per week after contractors stormed the Nationwide Meeting Advanced, alleging that funds budgeted for 2024 and 2025 had been being withheld.
As of Wednesday morning, the Federal Ministry of Finance had not issued a proper response to the protest and remained silent on the contractors’ claims.